Board members profiles

President

Dr. Lichtman is an Attending Physician and Member, Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases, Member, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College. He is a member of the 65+ Clinical Geriatrics Program and Gynecologic Oncology Disease Management Team at the Center. He has been on the Board of Directors and Treasurer of SIOG since 2010 and has participated in multiple taskforces (Chemotherapy, as chair, Geriatric Assessment, Renal Dysfunction, Lymphoma, Oral Chemotherapy), US National Representative and Scientific Chair of the 2011 meeting. He has been a participant in the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (formerly CALGB) as a member of the Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Committee (1990-2008), the Cancer in the Elderly Committee (1995-present). His work also included the Scientific Advisory Board of the Geriatric Oncology Consortium, the Elderly Taskforce of the Gynecologic Oncology Group, Cancer and Aging Research Group and the NCCN Guidelines Taskforce for the treatment, Evaluation of Older Women with Breast Cancer, Editorial Board of the Journal of Geriatric Oncology, External Advisory Board of the University of Iowa Cancer Center, Governing Board Cancer and the Kidney International Network. He has been a member of ASCO since 1988 and have been an active participant by serving on the Clinical Practice Committee, Scientific Program Committee, Geriatric Oncology Special Interest Group, an invited speaker at Educational Sessions, ASCO University, ASCO Post and a faculty member of the ASCO/AACR Vail Clinical Trials workshop for five sessions on the topic of special populations. He has been a guest editor for a special edition devoted to Geriatric Oncology for the Journal of Clinical Oncology (2007 and 2014). He has published over 100 articles in peer review journals, contributed to nine book chapters and edited three books and have been an invited speaker and many national and international meetings on Geriatric Oncology. In 2014 he received the ASCO BJ Kennedy Award for Scientific Excellence in Geriatric Oncology.

President-Elect

Hans Wildiers is a medical oncologist dedicated to breast cancer research and geriatric oncology. He is staff member at the department of general medical oncology in the University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium since 2004. He has been coordinator of many academic studies in the field of breast cancer and geriatric oncology, and author of 147 peer reviewed papers in 2014. He is executive board member of SIOG, the international society of geriatric oncology. Since 2008, he is chairmen of the elderly task force cancer of the elderly of the European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). He was associate editor of Annals of Oncology from 2010 till 2013.

Immediate Past President

Etienne GC Brain, MD PhD, has been working since 1998 as a medical oncologist at the Hôpital René Huguenin (Saint-Cloud, France), which is now part of the academic centre Institut Curie. He obtained both his MD and PhD from University Paris V René Descartes, the latter after leading works in preclinical and clinical pharmacology on alkylating agents and liver metabolism in Boston (Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Boston University) and Saint Cloud (Centre René Huguenin). He was the Deputy Director for Research at Centre René Huguenin from 2008-2009, until the merge with Institut Curie happened in 2010. This latter has made the “multisites institution” Institut Curie one of the largest hospital dedicated to cancer management in Europe, with special focus on breast cancer (~ 3,000 new cases yearly), employing 2,000 care-givers and 1,000 researchers. Etienne Brain is currently in charge of the settlement of the new Department of Clinical Research of Institut Curie in Saint-Cloud. He is the chairman of the committee for the evaluation of clinical research of the Institut Curie.

Treasurer

Dr Ravindran Kanesvaran is a Consultant in the Department of Medical Oncology of the National Cancer Centre Singapore. He is also an Assistant Professor at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School and clinical senior lecturer at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. He is actively involved in graduate medical education and is a core faculty member of the Medical Oncology Senior Residency Program and the Singhealth Internal Medicine Residency Program. He completed his medical oncology speciality training in the National Cancer Centre Singapore. After completion of that training he followed up with a fellowship in genitourinary oncology (GU) and geriatric oncology in Duke Cancer Institute in North Carolina, USA on a Healthcare Manpower Development Program (HMDP) scholarship awarded by the Ministry of Health Singapore. His research interests include GU oncology and geriatric oncology. He has published in a number of well-known peer reviewed journals including Journal of Clinical Oncology and Lancet Oncology. He has also been awarded a number of awards including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO GU) Merit Award 2009, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) scholar-in-training Award 2010 and European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) fellowship award 2012. He is currently the President of the Singapore Society of Oncology (SSO) and the Singapore Geriatric Oncology Society. He has been appointed as European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Faculty 2015-2016. He is on the Scientific and Education Committee and the National Representative for Singapore in the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG). He was recently awarded National Representative of the Year SIOG 2014 award.

Dr. Matti Aapro, dean of the Multidisciplinary Oncology Institute, Genolier, Switzerland, previously chaired the Medical and Radiation Department, European Institute of Oncology, Milano. He is the Executive Director of the International Society for Geriatric Oncology (SIOG). He was a Board member of EORTC. He is Past-president of MASCC, as well as on its Board of Directors for 2012-2014. He chaired the scientific and organizing committees of UICC’s World Cancer Congresses 2008 in Geneva, and 2010 in Shenzhen (China). He coordinates the SPCC programme of the European School of Oncology. He is Editor-in-Chief of Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology, Associate Editor for Annals of Oncology and the geriatric section of the Oncologist and founding member of the Journal of Geriatric Oncology (JGO). His major interests are new drug development, breast cancer, supportive care, and cancer in the elderly. Dr. Aapro has received the 2012 ASCO B.J. Kennedy prize.

Chair Membership and National Representatives Committee: Kwok-Leung Cheung *School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Royal Derby Hospital Centre, Nottingham, United Kingdomkl.cheung(at)nottingham.ac.uk

Mr Cheung qualified and trained at Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong. Upon completion of general surgery training, he conducted clinical and laboratory research at the University of Nottingham, UK, with a Doctor of Medicine (in the area of blood tumour markers) awarded in 2001. He was then appointed as Consultant Breast Surgeon at Nottingham University Hospitals where he served as Head of Service, Breast Services (2007 - 2010) and Lead Clinician for Breast Cancer (2007 - 2011). Mr Cheung joined the University of Nottingham as Clinical Associate Professor in 2004. He is also currently Consultant Breast Surgeon at Royal Derby Hospital.

He has obtained surgical fellowship status from Hong Kong, Edinburgh and America. Mr Cheung was selected as one of the 12 International Guest Scholars 2007 of the American College of Surgeons, as a recognition of his strong interests and commitment in teaching and research.

Mr Cheung is a member of the Faculty of Examiners for Intercollegiate MRCS and the Panel of Examiners of the Intercollegiate Specialty Board in General Surgery. Mr Cheung is also part of the National Cancer Peer Review team and an External Professional Advisor to the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, European Society of Breast Cancer Specialists, British Association of Cancer Surgery, Association of Breast Surgery, British Breast Group and SIOG (and its UK National Representative and member of its Surgical Task Force and Science and Educational Committee).

His research interests include breast cancer, surgery and non-operative therapies, endocrine and targeted therapies, and clinical trials. He has developed a research programme on primary breast cancer in older women, covering biology and clinical outcome, geriatric assessment and psychosocial aspects, and cost effectiveness of different therapeutic strategies. In 2010, Mr Cheung pioneered the Symposium on Primary Breast Cancer in Older Women in the UK, which has now become a biennial event, hosted by the University of Nottingham under the auspices of SIOG.

He has completed his education and training in Medical Oncology from England. His line of special interest has been – Biological Response Modifiers and Tumor Microenvironment. His principal interest is in Solid Tumors – G.I., Breast and Lung, repurposing of drugs. He is a member of the Task Force for Management of Cancer at the Indian Council for Medical Research (Government of India) as well as a member of the Planning Committee of the National Cancer Control Program. He is the founder member of Indian Cooperative Oncology Network (ICON), Molecular Oncology Society, Indian Association of Cancer Research. He is also the founder Member of ICON Biorepository as well as, member for Drafting of SOPs. He is President of Indian Society of Medical & Pediatric Oncology. He is Advisory Council Member of the Breast International Group (BIG) as well as member of BIG-North American Breast Cancer Group (BIG-NABCG) and Drafting Committee Member of Consent Guidelines for Biorepository. He is Chairman Elect of the SIOG Publication Committee. He is Editorial Member of Journal of Thoracic Oncology (JTO), Journal of Geriatric Oncology, Critical Reviews in Oncology / Hematology (CROH), Journal of Global Oncology–ASCO, Journal of Annals of Translational Medicine. He has special interest in Palliative care and Geriatric Oncology. He was awarded Certificate of recognition for Promotion and Development of Palliative Care in the World in 2013, by International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care (IAHPC). He has published more than 200 papers and has been an Investigator for more than 50 Phase II and III Clinical Trials done including Translational Research. He is holder of Orphan Drug status with FDA for Hepato-cellular carcinoma and Pancreatic Cancer, based on Investigator initiated trials.

Dr. Tanya Wildes is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She completed her undergraduate degree in biology from Illinois Wesleyan University and medical school, internal medicine residency, hematology/oncology and geriatrics fellowships at Washington University. She also completed her Masters of Science in Clinical Investigation at Washington University. Her research efforts focus on the impact of geriatric syndromes and outcomes in multiple myeloma. She also studies factors associated with falls in older adults with cancer and aims to develop fall-prevention interventions specific to the oncology population. She is the recipient of the K12 Paul Calabresi Career Development Award for Clinical Oncology at Washington University and the NIA Grant for Early Medical and Surgical Subspecialists Transition to Aging Research (GEMSSTAR) R03

Member at large: Siri RostoftOslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norwaysrostoft(at)gmail.com

Siri Rostoft is a medical doctor at Oslo University Hospital, Norway, specialized in internal medicine and geriatric medicine. She completed her PhD about geriatric assessment in older surgical cancer patients in 2011. Her main research interests in geriatric oncology are the clinical importance of geriatric assessment and interventions and frailty. She is a deputy editor for Journal of Geriatric Oncology.

Cindy Kenis has achieved her Bachelor degree in Nursing at the College of Nursing in Leuven, Belgium (1999-2002). Aftwards, she has accomplished her Master in Nursing Science at the KU Leuven, Belgium (2002-2005) and finished her Academic Teacher Education in Medical-Social Health Sciences at the same university in 2007. In October 2015, she defended her PhD dissertation with the title ‘geriatric screening and assessment in older patients with cancer’ succesfully at the KU Leuven, Belgium.

Currently, she works as a geriatric oncology nurse at the University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium. Within the Belgian Cancer Plan, she has coordinated the largest multicentric studies (period 2009-2011: 10 Belgian hospitals; period 2012-2015: 22 Belgian hospitals). Both studies were focusing on the implementation of a systematic geriatric screening and assessment within the Belgian cancer population. Her daily clinical practice and research is fully related to this topic.

During the past years, she has given national and international several lectures and presentations according to this topic. She’s also frequently asked to give educational sessions in different kinds of settings: medical students, nursing students, professional health care workers,… In 2014 she is awarded with the SIOG Nursing & Allied Health Investigators Award and in 2015 with the SIOG Young Investigators Award.

Observer

Nienke de Glas (1987) is a Medical Doctor and a clinical epidemiologist. Currently, she is working as a resident in Internal medicine at Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden. She aims to become a medical oncologist in the near future. She completed her PhD on breast cancer treatment in older women cum laude in 2014 and is currently combining her residency with a postdoctoral research internship. Her research focuses on improving individualized cancer treatment in older patients using prognostic tools. She has presented her work at several Dutch and international conferences such as the annual meetings of the International Society for Geriatric Oncology (SIOG), ECCO, and EBCC. In 2013, Nienke coinitiated the Young SIOG working group, of which she is chair since 2015.